Latest news with #South-eastAsian
Straits Times
31 minutes ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Myanmar junta battles guerillas for control of jade hub
Myanmar also has a huge and loosely-regulated mining sector for gold, rubies and rare earth minerals. PHOTO: AFP YANGON - Myanmar's junta and anti-coup guerillas battled over the country's jade mining hub on June 20, a combatant and a local said, displacing desperate civilians as they vied for supplies of the precious stone. Myanmar has been consumed by a many-sided civil war since a 2021 coup toppled the democratic government, with the myriad of fighting factions plundering the nation's vast natural resources to fill their coffers. Jade is considered auspicious in Chinese culture and high-quality stones can fetch astronomical sums in the neighbouring country. Fighting has raged during a Myanmar military offensive around villages and mining sites in Hpakant township of northern Kachin state, according to Mr Naw Bu, spokesman of the Kachin Independence Army battling the junta in the area. 'They came to the jade mining areas of some companies and they burned down trucks and destroyed other things,' he added. 'They intended to stop our income from jade mining.' AFP was not able to verify the claim and a spokesman for Myanmar's junta could not be reached for comment. Battles in the area began around three weeks ago but continued in the early hours of June 20, Mr Naw Bu said. A local resident who asked to remain anonymous said around 15 civilians had been killed since May 28 and 'some residents didn't dare to stay in the combat zone and have been displaced'. As Myanmar's civil war enters its fifth year, more than 3.5 million people in the South-east Asian country of around 50 million are currently displaced, according to United Nations figures. Kachin state hosts the largest jade deposits in the world according to geologists. Myanmar also has a huge and loosely-regulated mining sector for gold, rubies and rare earth minerals which has flourished in the war. China is also a key market for rare earth minerals, where they are used in electric vehicles the country is producing at prodigious rates. AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
3 hours ago
- Business
- Straits Times
Vietnam's top leader plans US trip as tariff deadline looms
Vietnam's Communist Party chief To Lam is expected to lead a delegation of officials and business executives. PHOTO: AFP HANOI – Vietnam's Communist Party chief To Lam is preparing to travel to the US in coming weeks as the two sides look to clinch a trade deal before US President Donald Trump's higher tariffs kick in, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr Lam aims to meet Mr Trump to help finalise an agreement, the people said, asking not to be identified as the trip isn't finalised yet. It's unclear what date the party chief will travel, although preparations are being made for him to be there in the next few weeks, they said. He is expected to lead a delegation of Vietnamese officials and business executives, they said, as the nation looks to seal more deals to buy additional American goods to reduce its trade surplus with the US. Ms Pham Thu Hang, a spokeswoman for Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said she hadn't received any information about the visit when asked about it at a regular press briefing on June 19. The White House declined to comment. Negotiators are close to a framework agreement under which Vietnam is pushing for tariffs in the range of 20 per cent to 25 per cent, Bloomberg News previously reported. The US is demanding stricter enforcement against the transshipment of Chinese products and the removal of non-tariff barriers. The two sides held more talks in a virtual meeting on June 19, attended by US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Vietnam's trade ministry said in a statement. Trade Minister Nguyen Hong Dien told the officials Vietnam seeks 'to develop practical and harmonious' rules with the US to deter fraudulent exports. He also welcomed the proposals from Mr Lutnick and Mr Greer 'to advance the negotiation process,' according to the statement. Vietnam has engaged in weeks of intense trade diplomacy since Mr Trump imposed a so-called reciprocal tariff rate of 46 per cent on imports from the country. He then postponed the duties until July 9, temporarily setting a 10 per cent import tax on trading partners to allow time for talks. In recent weeks, top officials from Vietnam have gone to the US to rally support. The agriculture minister secured US$3 billion (S$3.85 billion) worth of provisional deals during a tour of US states. The trade minister met with executives from Nike Inc, Gap Inc and Walmart Inc to encourage key industry players to get behind negotiation efforts. Vietnam is a critical industrial base for these companies, which count on the nation's factories to manufacture goods ranging from T-shirts and jeans to basketball shoes. Brands raced to move manufacturing to Vietnam over the past decade as US-China tensions escalated, helping turn the country into one of the world's biggest production hubs. The South-east Asian nation's trade connections with China, its largest bilateral trade partner, have been a major sticking point in negotiations. During Mr Trump's economic battle with Beijing in his first term, the manufacturing shift to Vietnam helped build the kind of massive trade surplus that has drawn the ire of the US president. BLOOMBERG Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
8 hours ago
- Business
- Straits Times
Beijing and Asean need to discuss ‘Second China Shock'
China's latest manufacturing surge, which some have begun to call the Second China Shock, may sound ominous as a label but is actually a tip of the hat to the mainland. PHOTO: AFP More than two decades ago, when China initiated the Early Harvest Programme with Asean to give South-east Asian countries more confidence to endorse the Asean-China Free Trade Area, then Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji told leaders from this region that a decade hence, if they found the free trade deal was not working for them, they could come back and discuss their concerns with the Chinese leadership. Given the flood of Chinese exports that's threatening to deindustrialise South-east Asia's auto, textiles, leather – and a host of other sectors vital to employment and social stability – the moment to redeem Mr Zhu's promise has come. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Business Times
21 hours ago
- Business
- Business Times
Top Thai billionaires-backed groups win digital bank permits
[BANGKOK] Three groups led by Charoen Pokmhand Group, Gulf Development and SCB X have clinched Thailand's new virtual bank licences to boost competition in the nation's banking industry, according to the central bank. ACM Holding, which is part of CP Group, and Advanced Info Service, a Gulf Development's mobile phone affiliate, secured the permits, Bank of Thailand said on Thursday (Jun 19). SCB X, which formed a consortium that includes China's WeBank and South Korea's KakaoBank, also obtained the virtual bank licence. 'We have high hopes that the new licences will increase competition in the banking industry with new innovation and technology,' deputy governor Roong Mallikamas told a press briefing. The announcement came amid a fresh political turmoil in the country that puts the current government on the brink of collapse. The nation is opening its banking industry to more competition that will allow greater access to loans for under-served consumers, following similar moves across Asia. Still, the new virtual banking operators will confront a landscape where traditional lenders are saddled with rising bad loans and weakening credit demand on the back of a soft economy. The timing of these permits is 'tricky and throws up a number of challenges,' said Sarah Jane Mahmud, a senior bank analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. 'Singapore digital banks have yet to break even, three years after going live,' she said. 'With hefty investment in digital platforms and marketing, Thai digital banks could face a longer wait to generate profit.' Singapore handed out digital banking permits in 2020, followed by the Philippines and Malaysia. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 8.30 am Asean Business Business insights centering on South-east Asia's fast-growing economies. Sign Up Sign Up Low-income individuals and small business will also have a greater access to new credit by the new operators of virtual banks, said Roong. The Chearavanont family, which controls CP Group, is one of Asia's richest clans, according to the Bloomberg billionaires Index report. It has businesses spanning from foods and retail to telecommunication and properties. It forayed into digital payment and financial services through fintech unit Ascend Money, with more than 50 million customers in Thailand and six other South-east Asian countries. Gulf Development, controlled by billionaire Sarath Ratanavadi, was created earlier this year by combining his empire – ranging from power to seaports, tollways and telecommunication – under one roof with the goal to accelerate his expansion in digital infrastructure such as data centres. Sarath is Thailand's second-richest person with a net worth of USUS$11 billion. Joining Sarath's group in the bid are Krung Thai Bank and PTT Oil and Retail Business, according to the central bank's statement. BLOOMBERG
The Star
21 hours ago
- Politics
- The Star
Thai PM Paetongtarn faces political collapse after leaked phone call scandal
BANGKOK: Thailand's government teetered on the brink of collapse after a leaked audio recording of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra criticising the country's military provoked the withdrawal of support from a key party in her ruling coalition amid growing calls for her resignation. The exit of the conservative Bhumjaithai Party, which holds 69 seats in the 500-member lower house, leaves the Pheu Thai Party-led government controlling just 261 seats in parliament, as more parties in the coalition held urgent meetings on Thursday (June 19) to decide whether to join the exodus. Any further defections could tip the Paetongtarn administration into minority government; some political analysts have already written her position off as untenable. Paetongtarn appeared to dig in during a hastily convened press conference on June 19, where she issued a public apology and urged the Thai people to unite in the face of what she described as a 'threat to national security' after her phone conversation with Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen on June 15 surfaced online. In the 17-minute call, which was uploaded to Hun's Facebook page on June 18, Paetongtarn is heard urging the former Cambodian leader to help resolve a renewed outbreak of border tensions between the two South-east Asian nations that she said was proving damaging to her government. Addressing Hun Sen, the father of current Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, as 'uncle', she appeared to blame the Thai army for inflaming tensions and referred to them as 'the opposite side'. She also urged Hun Sen to ignore comments from a firebrand Thai general whom she said merely wanted to 'appear cool'. She said later that her words were merely part of a 'negotiation tactic'. 'I must apologise for what happened as I really didn't know the conversation was being recorded,' she said at the press conference, flanked by ministers and senior army commanders, adding that the call had been made from her private phone. 'From now on, I'll be more careful with my words.' Paetongtarn said the Thai government had registered a diplomatic protest with Phnom Penh over the leak. 'No one would record such a personal conversation and release it like this. It is unacceptable,' she said. While the situation remains fluid, political analysts said the scandal had shaken political trust and soured public sentiment towards an already unpopular leader to such an extent she was unlikely to survive as prime minister. 'It is the PM's grave mistake to ignore the protocol by having a private phone call with Hun Sen on an unsecured line,' said Dr Panitan Wattanayagorn, a political scientist and former government adviser. There were no good options remaining for Paetongtarn, Dr Panitan said. She could either step down to make way for another candidate to take over, or run the gauntlet of an early election by dissolving parliament, he said. Coming just 10 months into her term, the potential for a fresh wave of political turmoil and leadership changes comes at an inopportune time, with Thailand battling to revive its stagnant economy while staving off the threat of US President Donald Trump's trade tariffs. Paetongtarn, the 38-year-old daughter of influential billionaire and former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, had not held any political office before becoming Thailand's youngest prime minister in August 2024 after the removal of her predecessor by a court order. She assumed power at the head of an uneasy post-election coalition with a clutch of pro-military parties, part of the conservative establishment whose distrust and rivalry with Thaksin's political movement has dominated Thailand's political landscape for much of the past two decades. The fragile alliance had been under growing strain due to mounting legal pressure on Thaksin following his return from 15 years in self-imposed exile as well as factional infighting. The latter erupted into public view after an attempt by Pheu Thai to strip Bhumjaithai Party leader Anutin Charnvirakul of the interior minister position in a cabinet reshuffle. Paetongtarn's popularity had already been tested by pressure over her management of Thailand's lacklustre economy, a resurgent opposition as well as long-held perceptions of the political influence her father, who has no official title but remains outspoken on policy matters, wields over her. Pro-military voices had also seized on what they considered to be her overly gentle diplomatic approach to the territorial spat after a Cambodian soldier was killed during a brief exchange of gunfire at a disputed border area between the two countries on May 28, fanning nationalist sentiments on both sides. Cambodia said on June 15 that it had formally submitted a request for the International Court of Justice to resolve its territorial row with Thailand after bilateral talks were inconclusive. 'This is by far the biggest crisis that Paetongtarn's administration has faced,' said Dr Prinya Thaewanarumitkul, director of the Law Centre at Thammasat University. 'The Pheu Thai Party might still have had a chance to retain the stability of the government even after the Bhumjaithai Party left the coalition. But after the leaking of the Prime Minister's conversation with Hun Sen, the situation is greatly worsened.' Thailand's armed forces have long played a prominent role in the country's politics, with the kingdom experiencing a dozen military coups since the 1930s, including toppling the governments of both Thaksin and his sister Yingluck Shinawatra in 2006 and 2014 respectively. The centre-left main opposition People's Party said Ms Paetongtarn had 'completely lost' the confidence of the people by portraying the Thai army as the enemy. Opposition leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut called on her to dissolve parliament to take responsibility for the damage caused and stave off any potential repeat of a military coup. 'While current public sentiment may lead to the setting up of pressure groups to gather in front of Government House or other places, people should be reminded that a military coup is not the answer,' he said on June 19. 'We must not let emotions push society beyond the bounds of democracy.' - The Straits Times/ANN
